OSOYOOS TIMES-April 7, 2010

By Laurena Weninger - Osoyoos Times

“The planning department received a lot of information, and I think they heard it loud and clear,” said Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells about a public information meeting held last week to answer the public’s questions about the Town’s proposed water zoning bylaw.
And it looks like that feedback from the public has substantially influenced the opinions of the Town’s elected officials.
“I believe it’s a little heavy-handed and onerous,” Wells said about the bylaw, adding he can’t give the official council position at this time but he is of the understanding the other councillors agree with his feelings.
On March 1, council gave first reading to the new bylaw, which governs the use of the Osoyoos Lake foreshore.
The proposed bylaw establishes three water use zones (W1, W2 and W3), removes existing commercial marina zoning and adds site-specific permitted uses to allow marinas at Lions Park, the Holiday Inn and the Safari Beach Resort.
It also includes a “definition” section which will be helpful to interpret the new bylaw, which distinguishes between terms like “moorage facility,” “group moorage facility” and “moorage structure.”
If the bylaw is approved, the maximum number of slips for a private moorage facility as set out in the W1 zoning would be three.
A group moorage facility would be limited to one slip per property and private property owners would only be allowed to have one private moorage buoy per adjacent waterfront parcel.
Private moorage buoys will not be permitted in front of public lands and commercial businesses like boat rentals would be permitted to operate from a pier.
The W2 zone addresses strata water use.
Permitted uses for this zoning include boating, recreational water activities and strata moorage facilities, but the zoning will provide the Town with greater powers in the approval process of future strata moorage applications – which would require a rezoning process.
The W3 zone has been created specifically for marinas.
On March 15, council held a public hearing at which it became obvious to the Town that the public wanted more information about the proposed policy.
That information was given out on March 30 in the Town’s development services building.
“I would think there were 40 people at the evening meeting,” Wells said, adding the mood was “fairly animated.”
He said one of the people who came in was totally in favour of the proposed bylaw and there were about 10 who were against the bylaw as proposed but agreed something needs to be done.
But the rest of the crowd was flat-out against the bylaw.
“Their main concern was it was a bit heavy-handed,” he said.
For example, the bylaw that received first reading would have allowed a lakefront property owner to have one boat lift or one buoy.
“There’s people on the lake who have both a boat and a personal watercraft,” Wells said, adding this is further complicated if people have company in town who also have a boat. If the bylaw is approved, those visitors would, theoretically, have to put their boat in and out of the water every day of their visit.
“I don’t think that’s fair and right,” Wells said.
Neither did the people who crowded into the development services building during the information session.
“The message we’re getting from here is that the Town of Osoyoos wants to get rid of the tourists,” said Debbie Harford, who lives in Kelowna but owns a site at the Oasis RV Resort on Lakeshore Drive. “We’ve been coming here for over 20 years. Osoyoos is built on tourism.”
Gary Jackle has lived on Lakeshore Drive for 17 years.
“It affects me because I have a boat,” he said, adding that in addition to his boat and lift, he has two Sea-Doos and a dock.
“What do I have to take out?” he asked.
His wife, Alison Jackle, agrees.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “Telling (tourists) not to bring boats to the warmest place in Canada is stupid. The lake is right in the middle of everything.”
She said this hits a personal nerve for many of the lake’s users, year-round residents or summer visitors who have been coming to town for decades.
“It’s like a right has been taken away from them after many, many years.”
Donna Byers, who owns Desert Dreams Rentals, a company that rents out watercrafts, has been waiting for the Town to come up with an appropriate business licence for her to operate.
So has Jerry Ellingson, from Chaotic Motor Sports.
But they fear the proposed water zoning bylaw is going to hinder that process further.
“It’s not fair,” Byers said, pointing out she has $60,000 worth of personal watercraft ready to use.
Wells said that message was also heard, loud and clear.
“We have to accommodate them,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s a tourist community.”
Wells said planning department staff members will now take the information they heard and will likely meet with stakeholder groups before coming up with something further on the matter.
reporter@osoyoostimes.com